Downtown Oakville dream steps closer to becoming reality

Downtown Oakville dream moves closer to becoming reality

A plan for what downtown Oakville might look like in the years to come is beginning to take shape.

Town of Oakville staff presented the Planning and Development Council Monday (July 7) with three related reports outlining the next steps on how the Town can enhance the downtown core culturally, socially and economically.

Jane Clohecy, the Town's Community Development Commissioner, said over the last six months, the public and key stakeholders have been heavily engaged in dreaming up how the Town can build a community that embraces culture, supports beautiful streets and encourages residents to make a difference in town and in each other’s lives.

She said the Downtown Plan report outlines the vision, objectives and evaluation framework for the project.

"The most important piece they (the consultants) identified was the success of the downtown depends on it being a destination. It's not just a location for people to shop, it has to also attract other things. So a combination of cultural facilities, the harbour, the lake, the waterfront, the downtown shopping — all of those elements contribute to that destination and that really is the key that will hold the success to the downtown."

Jane Clohecy, Town of Oakville Community Development Commissioner

It also contains an evaluation on the economic health of downtown conducted by hired consultant firm J.C. Williams Group.

The consultants found that although downtown businesses experienced high sales volumes between 2006-2008, they started to see a decline because of increased competition from Burlington's Mapleview Mall and the Halton Hills outlets.

"The most important piece they (the consultants) identified was the success of the downtown depends on it being a destination," said Clohecy. "It's not just a location for people to shop, it has to also attract other things. So a combination of cultural facilities, the harbour, the lake, the waterfront, the downtown shopping — all of those elements contribute to that destination and that really is the key that will hold the success to the downtown."

She noted relying too much on the shopping element will have a "detrimental effect on the downtown in the long term."

With that in mind, plans to revamp the area’s culture and streetscape should help support the downtown economy.

Council heard four redevelopment options for transforming the cultural and performing arts space that already exists.

The vision is for it to include a performing arts centre, art gallery, library, outdoor program space, and indoor cultural space or a digital hub at three key locations — Centennial Square, the old fire hall and the former post office.

The Transportation and Streetscape Study outlines a trio of options for the Lakeshore Road streetscape to address existing traffic and road conditions.

They range from keeping the roads and boulevards the size they are today, to adding bike lanes to Lakeshore Road, or creating wider boulevards to accommodate patios and outdoor merchandise space.

During a lengthy discussion about the reports, councillors had no lack of questions.

While some asked how the magnitude of the project would impact the rest of the municipality economically, others wanted to know the feasibility of incorporating a boutique hotel into the plan.

Staffers said they think the plan would have positive affects on the area and promised to look into the economic viability of a downtown hotel as they move forward with the next steps.

Audience members also took to the podium to express their.

A group called the Oakville Downtown Cultural Hub (DCH) Innovation Space Interest Group, lamented a lack of detail on how an innovation space would be incorporated.

With only a mention that it could be 10,000 sq.ft. incorporated into new library space, the group said that was too small for "a cultural and innovation hotspot" that brings together entrepreneurs to grow scalable, sustainable businesses — risking missed opportunities in partnership and investments from business, academia and governments with a project like this.

The group wants a study commissioned and an advisory group formed to help staff refine plans.

Meanwhile, Oakville resident Don Pangman is anxious to see the downtown plan come to fruition.

Boasting how Oakville is already a great place in which to live, work and play because of it has great recreational spaces, the best public and private schools and a new hospital on the horizon, he said he's looking forward to seeing how downtown Oakville transforms into a place where people can gather and enjoy a rich and vibrant culture.

"We just need infrastructure to cover all the needs of those cultural arts groups and performing groups not only in our community, but outside our community," said the founder of ArtHouse.

He said Oakville has potential to be its own cultural hub, apart from Hamilton, Buffalo and Toronto, attracting the finest performing arts groups from around the world.

Sharlene Plewman, executive director for the Downtown Oakville BIA, said she'd like to see more young people engaged in discussion on the future of downtown, since they will benefit from the changes.

She liked the streetscape plan and the "concept of putting it back better than we found it," but cautioned that pending construction could be a deterrent for potential renters thinking about opening up shop downtown.

"We need to make sure we're being fairly straight forward to say what mitigations are in place to make sure businesses can survive the construction because it will be great, but it will be tough," she said.

Council endorsed the three related reports.

Staff will continue to define the cultural facilities and outdoor spaces, evaluate them and present options to Council in 2015.

"We need to ensure we have the right facilities, not only for today, but for all the users of tomorrow," said Clohecy. "We still have a lot of work to do over the next year and we’ll be going back to the public and to Council before we finalize a preferred option on the cultural hub."

For more information, visit www.oakville.ca/townhall/downtown-plan.html.